Three
by Moreta Reborn
Summary: Temporary hiatus. Three riders. Mary Sueish. Save yourself. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Arrynatha, known as Ryna, felt a hot wet tear roll down her face as she remembered the events of the night before.

_"Get away, Ryna!" Halindor shouted over the roar of the magic fire that was about to devour him._

_"Halindor!" she shrieked._

_"BRISINGR!" a deep voice shouted gleefully._

And Halindor, her dearest friend and companion, had succumbed to Galbatorix's minion's cruel flame. Halindor had been an elf, Ryna had discovered. Sent by Queen Islanzadí of the elves for her, Ryna…Halindor had trained her in rudimentary magic. He had never said why the elven queen had sent him.

He had always been a tutor, no more, though to Ryna's eyes he'd been the most handsome man ever.

_And I loved him,_ Ryna reflected, sitting up in her blue cloak. She had run until Gilead was a shadow to the south. Why, she'd ride straight to Ellesméra, on her horse Vöndr, so named because he had been a skinny foal… Halindor'd taught her how to enter Du Weldenvarden. And so Ryna would.

She got up to gather wood to boil water for breakfast.

A large black stone was sitting right in front of her face.

It was smooth and diamond hard. More than diamond, the eighteen year old surmised. What was it? It might be valuable. She put it in her satchel.

She mounted the bay stallion and spurred him on, stopping every hour to walk him for twenty minutes. "Good boy," she murmured fondly.

She ate a sparse lunch of greens and the dried fruit she had left. If she'd gotten away with more, it would have been a lot better.

Farther on she saw a trading post. "Sir," she asked a trader, "how much is this stone worth?"

He was eyeing a certain part of her chest, blast him. She should have worn something more concealing, but the one tunic was all she'd gotten ahold of. It came three fingerspans below her collarbone.

"Ah, my precious…I wouldn' know, would I? Still, you're a pretty young thing…"

"Tell me how much it's worth, man!" Her hazel brown eyes flared.

She got no worded response. She went to another tent.

"Well, I wouldn't know…where did you say you got this?" he said in such a greedy tone that Ryna flinched.

"The Spine." she said, suddenly liking the rock. He had no right to speak like that.

"No deal." he said coldly. Ryna strode out of the post pleased with herself.


	2. Dragon Rider

Short Summary: AU. For one thing, the third egg is a green male. For another, Morzan only had one child. Don't like, don't read.

Ryna rode on Vöndr more, reaching a small clump of bushes in which to camp. She hobbled the bay and soon had a merry fire going.

She caught a wild bird for meat, using a bow and arrow. It was small, about as large as a hen. It would be enough for her.

She cooked a simple stew, putting the leftovers in a jar. She wound a strand of her long dark hair around her finger and sighed. She took out the stone.

A crack appeared on the smooth black surface. And another. And more cracks, like a spiderweb.

A black dragon hatchling tumbled out of the shell.

Ryna stretched out a hand to touch the creature. She gasped in shock. When she pulled her hand away, a silver oval was imprinted on the skin of her palm.

She was a dragon rider.

"Well, let's get you something to eat," she said briskly, to dispel the shock. She was glad that she had some leftover meat from the bird—it had been a large one.

She extended a meat filled hand. The hatchling ate delicately from the hand, then looked into Ryna's hazel eyes.

Ryna was aware of a presence behind those eyes. She thought in her mind, _Hello. I am Arrynatha, known as Ryna. Who are you?_

The hatchling stared at her for a moment. Then, unknowingly unlike her sibling Saphira had done, replied in words, _I am your dragon, Ryna. You must name me._

_Name you?_

_Yes. _The hatchling said this with such a simple conviction that Ryna was forced to give in. A name sprang to her mind unbidden.

_Miremel._

The refusal coming from the dragon was so strong that Ryna tried another name.

_Nadrina._

_No. _the dragon stated flatly.

_Are you a she?_

_Yes._

"Sinadra," breathed Ryna. The name had sprung to her lips out of the depths of her mind.

_Yes._ The newly christened Sinadra curled up beside her rider, and Ryna told her new companion about her home in Uru'baen, dangerously close to the king's power.

_A dangerous place for one like me._ Sinadra thought with alarm.

_We are far away, love, from the evils of Galbatorix. We will go to a safe place where dragons and their riders are safe._

Sinadra curled up beside Ryna, and as the sun slowly descended behind the horizon, Ryna banked the fire, secured her possessions, and fell asleep, the newborn black dragon beside her.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle or anything related

Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle or anything related. Christopher Paolini has it all.  
A/N: Takes place during Eragon, and continues into Eldest and Brisingr.

Three, chapter 3 (heehee get it)

While Ryna was sleeping, Eragon was staring at Brom's tomb, which Saphira had just turned to diamond.

--

Ryna rose and washed, feeding Sinadra with some dried meat from her pack and eating the same herself. She could not get over the fact that she was a dragon rider. _Like the stories Uncle Reldan told me, _she thought, and immediately dismissed the thought. This was all one amazing dream.

Her stomach grumbled too much to be a dream. A vivid dream, then…She looked down at the little black. Now _she _had to be a figment of Ryna's imagination.

_I am a dream? _Sinadra asked, plaintively rubbing her nose against the gedwëy ignasia that adorned Ryna's palm.

"Of course not," she said absently, scratching the little black. Sinadra gave a purr and closed her eyes in appreciation.

"Silly," Ryna chided her gently. Sinadra snorted.

Ryna hoisted herself onto Vöndr. Sinadra said, _You ride that overgrown deer?_

_He is not a deer, Sinadra. He is a horse, and you would do well to remember that Vöndr is a very fine horse indeed._

_Deer, horse, what does it matter?_ Sinadra grumbled. _Ride me instead. We will take to the skies, dragon and rider._

_Stop having such odd fantasies. You are much too small to fly, and as it is you, too, will have to ride that _overgrown deer, _as you call a fine horse._

_What?_

_You will have to ride Vöndr. There is no other way._

Sinadra grumbled some more and subsided. She allowed herself to be unceremoniously stuffed into a large saddlebag. Vöndr whinnied in protest, but he had been bred for heavier weights, so it did not harm him.

They rode most of the morning, Ryna stopping twice to let the horse rest, and one of those times to feed Sinadra.

_Do you think there are others like me, with scales?_

_Of course, silly. There must be…_ But Ryna was doubtful. Only one of the dragon eggs had been stolen from Galbatorix, Reldan had told her, and this must be it.

The pair did not know about Eragon and Saphira, nor would they for a time.

When they stopped for lunch, Ryna found a small rabbit, which she cooked half of and fed the other half to Sinadra, making sure no prying eyes were about and concealing them in a clump of dried weeds.

"We have to make sure no one sees us, because if they see you, then the evil king will hunt us down and make him obey us, Sinadra."

Vöndr ate some oats and grass. Ryna gave him an apple.

"You've been working hard, so you deserve this. I've got a limited supply of apples, hear?"

The horse chewed contentedly, and did not seem to care, absorbed in his apple.

A/N: Next chapter will be when Ryna arrives at the edge of Du Weldenvarden, skipping a couple of weeks. Stay tuned! Please review!


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